DCC Archive How Many Women...

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Doug Hess Jr., Jan 4, 2002.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Doug Hess Jr.

    Doug Hess Jr. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belpre, Ohio
    I know women who can out fish and out hunt nearly any man-- despite those being typically male dominated sports. In the same way, women tend to be more sensitive to distortion in recordings and have very good hearing (and my wife has quite an extensive LP and CD collection). Even so, most stereo junkies are men. I just wondered how many women have joined the forum. Any and all are certainly welcome, but I just wanted to see how many were here.
     
  2. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    There was a study conducted that women are most sensitive to higher frequencies in the spectrum then men. I feel it's also true that women have more sensitive hearing, especially to soft, quiet passages of sound and music. Heh, a lot of women have said "What was that noise downstairs??"

    "Uhh, what noise??"; I would say unknowingly... Ahh, the cat crying at the door, even through the storm metal door. She could hear that? Wow.

    She could pick out things in the din of natural room noise that I would not hear (heater, air conditioner, TV)....

    It's been in my experience that women I've come to know aren't the least bit interested in having an audiophile sense and drive for "the perfect cut", as we put it, but a woman's perspective and opinion of music (quality, mastering) is insightful and interesting. I've not known one female counterpart swoon over a MFSL or remaster inparticular. A couple of girl friends didn't seem to care about how a DTS/Surround sound of Moodie's "Days Of Future Passed" sounded. they just liked the music. Didn't care too much for the 5.1.

    I was engaged to someone who expressed her excitement to hearing the first early takes of John Lennon doing Strawberry Fields, saying "it raises the hair on the back of my neck how it sounds!" (Referring to my 1st encounter with the Swinging Pig bootlegs of old). Women also seem to keep a multitask of thoughts going at once. I guess us men strive to concentrate closely? Heck, I donno.

    I'll bet money that Karla Hoffman has grown distinct and radar-like hearing!
     
  3. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    That is in contrast to the study last year that found that women suffer hearing loss just asa much as men do. The culprit? Screaming children, vaccum cleaners, washing machines, you get the picture.

    I suggest that women may have better hearing in the sensitive ranges because of the natural need to hear the human voice. In that case, a hightened sensitivity in the upper midrange may indeed make music sound like ****!

    Also, If you lose hearing in the upper and lower frequency ranges it forces the ear to concentrate on the midrange, which would certainly raise the hair and cause music to sound shrill. Do this with your graphic EQ. Slash the frequency extremes and see how the music sounds.

    Men have traditionally been expose to industrial noise or firearms. This may cause a different type of hearing loss.

    I think more studies need to be done on the hearing of women.

    [ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: Grant T. ]
     
  4. Doug Hess Jr.

    Doug Hess Jr. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belpre, Ohio
    Back when we were dating I made the mistake of referring to my wife's all-in-one am/fm/dual cassette/turntable/CD player as a "Kenner Close And Play". I didn't live that down until I bought my current stereo system about 6 years ago and for Christmas purchased "Hotel California" and "Eagles Greatest Hits" from DCC and MFSL's "Dark Side of the Moon". The next day she put her old stereo in a garage sale and said, "Yep, that was a Kenner Close and Play". So while she does appreciated Steve's magic and other fine recordings, she has no interest in owning any other gold CD's like I do. So I agree with you that their hearing is much more sensitive, etc. and can hear the difference, women (I'm sure we'll find some exceptions) don't really care about owning Gold CD's.

    [ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: Dough ]
     
  5. Pat

    Pat Forum Detective

    Location:
    Tampa, FL
    "...women (I'm sure we'll find some exceptions) don't really care about owning Gold CD's."

    ...but if they can find a way to make a Diamond CD, they'd be coming out in droves!

    (Now it's time for me to make a run for it, before I get hit with something!).

    ;)
     
  6. eBay Feed

    eBay Feed Automated

    My wife is by no means an audiofile. She can pretty much take music or leave it. However, she loves CCR and Bread.

    Before we were married, I explained the whole "gold disc" thing to her. I let her hear Steve's version of the CCR songs and compared them to her "Chronicles I & II" cds. She was amazed almost to the point of tears, especially when I told her that they were "out of print".

    Well, here we are a couple of years down the line and we are now married (THANKS STEVE!) But I am still not sure if it was the gold discs that did the trick or not.

    Tony
     
  7. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Hey, I'm like a matchmaker or something, Tony.

    Gee, another aspect of my job that I never thought of! :D
     
  8. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    A few of my women customers, when asked why women aren't as crazy about sound quality as men are, usually said something along the lines of women being socialized to deal with people and relationships, not "things". One woman said that they just don't have time to deal with it.

    I do, but how many men don't care about what goes into housekeeping? I'm not being sexist with that question, but you know how parts of our society still are, especially the midwest!
     
  9. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    Well don't forget - women can be very big on possessions in general, just not Audiophile stuff. An Awia boombox in the bedroom does them just fine.

    Before I got engaged, she used to say "Rabbit wants a carrot". She wasn't talking about a leafy orange veggie!

    But sweaters, shoes, coats, diamonds, gold bracelets, these are a few of "her" favorite things!

    And when you come down to it, "she" cared about getting something from a fussy store rather than JC Penny. "She" could tell one better piece of clothing from a distance like radar.

    When I say "she", I mean just about every woman I know/knew. Women have thier own generous self-spoling charactoristics, that's all. Us music men, well....we get the same sighs and groans as we approach a hi-fi store as we give them when it's MALL TIME .

    I'm a batchelor now, and I can say 1st hand, cleaning house sucks and rocks at the same time. If you can appreciate the benefit, you get engulfed, and do it all day. Then, I feel guilty ruining the kitchen for a good meal.... Ah, the life. Anyone want my recipe for batchelor spare ribs? ;)

    [ January 05, 2002: Message edited by: Sckott ]
     
  10. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Heh! I'll never understand how a woman can get worked up about a piece of rock that you can't do anything with and costs a fortune. What a waste! Give me a diamond I can play vinyl on and enjoy it too!

    When my wife wants to got to the mall I find an excuse to go to a music or computer store. One of us will drop the other off at our desired location and set a time to pick each other up.

    Gee Sckott, don't you just love the the groans they give you when you indicate your desire to go music shopping? Actually, it's probably the same when they want to go to Dillards to "look around". Well, i've been known to spen five hours in a used record store...oh well!

    [ January 05, 2002: Message edited by: Grant T. ]
     
  11. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    The used record store trips, especially out of town, are best pillaged when she is occupied with her own work, mother-visiting or AT work.

    It's true. You have to plan the visit, while you're in a relationship/marrage, to take on a huge used record store. Everyone has to go a-w-a-y! ;)
     
  12. Doug Hess Jr.

    Doug Hess Jr. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belpre, Ohio
    OK, I agree that my wife can spend 4 hours in Wal-Mart looking at clothes for her and the baby and after 3 minutes at the CD store she is ready to leave, BUT...let's get back to inviting ANY women who may have joined this forum to say, "hello" just to see the exceptions to what may be the rule.
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    I think Angel is the only woman on the forum (who posts)...

    Right?
     
  14. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I didn't look at the profile but I assumed Angel was a male. Angel is a man's name.
     
  15. wes

    wes Senior Member

    I think it's safe to say that overall, audiophiles are mostly men....It must be a guy thing. My wife could care less what type of radio/stereo the music is played on. As long as it's music. She can hear what I hear, but she just isn't a nut like I am. Sometimes it drives her crazy, because I can sit and listen to music for hours and do nothing. Music is my life. I have to have it. I was raised on it. And it only makes sense to have a really nice system to do the music justice ,to be able to follow a cymbol's decay on my favorite albums. It's the next best thing to having them play in my living room. It's really neat to make my apartment sound like it's a small venue with Joni Mitchell singing behing a piano and playing her guitar. I recent bought Joni Mitchell's Blue by the way, at Media Play. WOW!! Steve, your my hero.............

    oops I strayed away from the subject. I'm finished :D
    I still love my wife, she's my best friend.

    -Wes
     
  16. jligon

    jligon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Peoria, IL
    Am I the only one here that has a cool :cool: girlfriend/wife? Of course, I was married once, so I know what you're talking about. My ex didn't see the point in me hooking my stereo up in the three years we were together!
    Thank God I learned! My current girlfriend has turned me on to The Zombies, Toots & the Maytals, Connie Francis (early years, of course), David Bowie (Hunky Dory album) and the Boswell Sisters, to name just a few while letting me turn her on to (and loving) everything from Charles Mingus to Django Reinhardt to Desmond Dekker to Blossom Dearie to Woody Guthrie to Ben Webster to Howlin' Wolf. However, while she loves my stereo, she does think I'm a little too particular about endlessly comparing discs to determine which ones are keepers.
    I'm not sure what my point was but I know I'm having a lot more fun now than I did when I was married!
     
  17. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    Well, I've got a cool wife that can sing along with about 90% of the Beatles songs! She loves George Harrison, Moody Blues, Elton John up to Rock of the Westies, John Mellencamp, etc. and knows at least the names of most of the songs.

    We almost always have music playing in the house (we have three sets of speakers playing at once and every floor is *connected* to the House Stereo).

    The only fly in the ointment is when I retire to the basement listening room (stand alone stereo, of course) to do some serious listening... and I am not around to talk to. Ahhhh, well, it's workable! :D
     
  18. jligon

    jligon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Peoria, IL
    Yeah, my girlfriend's four year old girl LOVES the Beatles. I thought she was a George fan at first because her favorite song was Roll Over Beethoven, but I think she's converted to a John fan after watching The First US Visit at my house last week. She was actually screaming just like the girls on the Sullivan show. I've never seen anything like it. She was yelling, "TURN IT BACK. I WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN!"
    Brings back memories of 1968 as a five year old putting my Mom's beads on so I would look like they did on the MMT album!
     
  19. JPartyka

    JPartyka I Got a Home on High

    Location:
    USA
    No. I've been married for just over three years, and I have successfully converted my wife/best friend into a vinyl nut, if not an audiophile. She was blown away when I did an LP-to-CD comparison using the same albums (If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle & Sebastian and The Beatles' Revolver two of her faves), and now she renounces CDs (she's sold most of hers off) and happily accompanies me to the used-LP shops.

    She now has her own turntable and her own growing collection of LPs of music she likes -- Ben Folds Five, Cat Stevens, Genesis, Commodores, Bee Gees, etc.

    She's one cool gal.
     
  20. Doug Hess Jr.

    Doug Hess Jr. Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Belpre, Ohio
    WOW Jeff...you might wanna hang on to that girl for awhile!!
     
  21. eBay Feed

    eBay Feed Automated

    My wife used to be terrified of my LPs. She wouldn't even touch them, because she was afraid she would scratch one.

    Now she will actually flip an LP over and drop the needle on side two! I know it won't be long now, and I will come home to find her listening to an LP all by herself...

    Ah, the small joys of life!

    Normally she won't sit through an entire LP or CD, but last week when I was listening to my Phoebe Snow DCC cd she asked who I was listening to and sat down and listened through the entire album (and the demos). She read through the booklet and everything! She even listened closely enough to tell me which demos she liked more than the album tracks. Her favorite song on the album was "Either or Both".

    Then I put on my Carol King Ode Years 2 cd set, because I told her I thought Phoebe sounded a little like Carol King. She didn't even make it through a whole song from Tapestry because as she put it "this sounds like crap". END OF LISTENING TIME TOGETHER... Oh well, it was my fault for going from a Hoffman Gold CD directly to a "regular" cd! :o

    Tony
     
  22. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Tony, you should have let her know that the "Tapestry" album WAS a demo. It had less to do with Steve not having remastered it. Besides, great music trancends bad sound all around. The good sound is just icing on the cake.

    I find that after Steve, the Legacy people do a great job of sound restoration.
    This makes me wonder, do people listen more for the music or for the technology? Yes, the sound is important, but I get the feeling some people are less interested in the music itself. Are there any of us here who just keep a CD/LP around just for the sound quality even though the music sucks?
     
  23. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    For me, if the music sucks, I don't want it in any way, shape or form! But if I like the music, I try to find the best possible copy, including remasters, original pressings, vinyl, etc. all within reason.

    I think Tapestry has been remastered in HDCD. I should check that out!
     
  24. eBay Feed

    eBay Feed Automated

    Grant,

    I wasn't slamming Tapestry! It is one of my favorite albums. I was just telling a story that I thought related to the thread about women listening to music. My wife can now hear differences in sound quality.

    I collect tapes/cdrs of Jethro Tull concerts (most of which come from audience tapes). The sound quality on these range from pretty good to really bad, but the sound quality doesn't keep me from enjoying them! I have about 100 shows if memory serves.

    On the other hand... I have bought quite a few DCC gold CDs (Eagles, Doobies, Phoebe Snow, Elton John, and lots of jazz stuff) that I never owned on LP or CD before. It is all stuff that I liked, but just never bought.

    In the case of Phoebe Snow, I had never even heard one of her songs, but I took a chance on it because I knew the sound quality would be great and I figured that if DCC went to the trouble to make a gold cd of it, it must be a good album. I took a chance on it, and the payoff was great.

    So the short version would be:

    Yes, I buy certain things with sound quality being a high priority. But I still listen to most music just for the music regardless of sound quality. At this point in my life, I have too much stuff to listen to- so I tend to shy away from buying new artists because I just don't have time to listen to everything I like. I am much more concerned with sound quality now than I used to be.

    Tony
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine